GM Tells Spyker to Shove It

A judge has dismissed a $3 billion lawsuit filed by Spyker against GM due to the latter blocking a deal to sell Saab to a Chinese buyer.

It was a valiant effort on Spyker’s part, but its plan to buy and keep Saab going failed miserably. Without going into major details over the deal and how the boutique Dutch supercar builder nearly killed itself in trying to rescue Saab, the former actually ended up suing General Motor last August for $3 billion. The reason being? Spyker accused GM of unfairly blocking a deal to let a potential Chinese buyer take over the now defunct Swedish automaker. If you recall, GM sold Saab to Spyker back in 2010 but the latter ran into financial problems very quickly.

In turn, it sought financial backing from potential investors, one of whom was a Chinese firm. But GM had a problem with that because Saab models, like the 9-5, had a fair amount of GM's proprietary technology. The idea that the Chinese would have direct access to this technology did not sit well. GM found a way to block the deal between Spyker and the Chinese buyer. As a result, Spyker later sued. Now, a US federal judge has dismissed the $3 billion lawsuit against GM. Spyker is back to building its sports cars and the future of Saab remains as dreadful as ever.